Thursday 24 October 2013

The Black Death Video

Natural Disaster Project, Biotic Perils, The Black Death

Plague: A disease caused by bacteria, which spreads rapidly to large populations and often ends in death after delusion and fever.

Factors that cause this phenomenon to happen: Plague is caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis which is found in fleas, and transferred to other creatures such as rats, or prairie dogs, or humans, by their bite. Plague, like any virus, is a constantly evolving thing and can sometimes outpace the medical remedies that we humans have devised. Plague can be found to be most prevalent in areas that see a high rodent population due to the fleas’ habit of jumping from one host to another. In the case of rats at least, areas such as this are often the less clean streets of cities.


An extreme close up of a flea.

Where it happened: The Black Death started in the province of Hopei, (also called Hebei) which was a part of Yuan dynasty,(as well as modern day) China. It annihilated the population of Hopei, cutting it by 90% before devastating much of the rest of China and spreading west through the ancient trade routes. It was at the port city of Kaffa that the first case of the Black Death was reported in Europe, and from there it spread rapidly to cover virtually the whole of Europe. (Excluding the uninhabited areas, and oddly enough, a small pockets of healthy areas throughout Europe)


Map showing the areas of Europe affected by the Black Death

Why it happened: Like most major ailments, the Black Death seems to have been caused by the constant evolution of disease. With the suitable conditions, a mutation would have taken place that caused a disease that people had little or no immunity to, the Black Death. Although there had been plagues before this one, none seem to have measured up to the Black Death in terms of sheer suffering and loss of life. In terms of why the Black Death came to Europe, we can blame the westward spread of trade from China as a general reason for the Black Death’s spread to Europe, and the Mongol siege of the city of Kaffa as a specific reason. The Mongols were winning the siege of Kaffa, they had cut off supplies to the port city, and seem to have been well on their way to adding yet another city to one of the largest empires the world has ever seen, when a sickness fell over the invaders, killing them in large numbers. The situation became desperate, the Mongols knew they could not win, but that was not going to stop them from making the city that had halted their relentless march west pay for stopping them. They hurled their dead over the walls of Kaffa, causing the people of this trading city to be infected with the same illness that had driven away the Mongols. This mysterious ailment was in fact the Black Death, and as people left this colony of Genoa to escape the plague they unknowingly carried it with them wherever they went. Within about 6 years virtually all of Europe had been infected.


An example of the Mongols besieging a city in much the same way they besieged Kaffa

What was the Impact: In Europe 25 million people, or one third of Europe’s population at the time, died as a result of the Black Death between the years 1347 and 1352. The Impact on society in Europe was quite profound, suddenly the little bit of order that Europe had managed to gain since the collapse of the Romans was shattered. As people became infected with plague they abandoned each other to their fates. Whole cities were left to fend for themselves as their rulers left them for dead. The story was quite the same for families, as individuals were left to die while the rest tried not to be next. Suddenly everybody was looking for something or someone to blame, and the causes given for the Black death were as varied as an alignment between Jupiter and Saturn, and Jews poisoning the water. Peasants were becoming much scarcer, so many had been killed by, or fled from the Black Death that now there were very few laborers, and each was considered much more valuable than they were before. The Peasants were starting to be charged lower taxes and given more individual freedoms in an effort to keep them around; it was the start of things to come.


The horror of the Black Death.

How did the region recover: Their seems to be no definite cure for the black death, (though many were tried) instead this devastating disease appears to have simply moved on to ravage new areas when sufficient numbers of people had been killed to thin the population density. Meaning that less trash would be thrown in the streets, attracting fewer rats carrying fleas infected with the Black Death and causing the effects of the plague to subside from that area, at least temporarily. This was the only means Europe had for centuries to battle the plague, other than its people building up a natural immunity to the Black Death. (And later plagues) Because of this, the Plague did return to parts of Europe periodically until 1720 when the last recorded outbreak occurred there, but did not cause nearly as much devastation as the Black Death.
What is the region doing to predict and prepare for future perils: Since the late Middle Ages European Cities and towns have become much cleaner attracting fewer rats. As well, great strides have been made in understanding plague, and where it currently occurs, it can usually be treated with the use of antibiotics.

Medieval towns were not clean places, with all manner of material tossed out in the streets. Conditions were perfect for rats, (which were carrying the fleas that contained the plague bacteria) to spread quickly.



In stark contrast to their medieval ancestors, modern European towns such as Brussels, the capital of Belgium which is pictured here, are very clean and see far fewer rats than in the middle ages.

The Great Ice Storm of 1998 Video

Natural Disaster Project, Atmospheric Perils, The Great Ice Storm of 1998

Ice Storm: a period of freezing rain that leaves everything that this freezing rain comes into contact with, covered in Ice, and can posse a very real threat to transportation and electrical systems.

Factors that cause this phenomenon to happen: Ice storms are caused when the atmospheric conditions are just right. There has to be a layer of cold air in the upper atmosphere, followed by a layer of warm air further down,  followed by a layer of cold air at ground level. When it snows with these atmospheric conditions present the snow falls so far and then melts as it passes through the warm layer, it than falls to the ground or structures such as power lines, and freezes on contact due to the colder layer near the ground. The atmospheric conditions that cause ice storms to happen, involve warm low-pressure systems converging with areas of stationary cold air, which causes this atmospheric mix up that makes ice storms possible.


A tree has fallen over from the sheer weight of the ice that built up on it from the Great Ice Storm of 1998, and crushed a car.

Where it happened: The Great Ice Storm of 1998 occurred In the Canadian Provinces of Ontario, (only in the eastern part of the province) Quebec,(the southern part of the province) New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, as well as in the American States of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.


Map of the areas affected by the Great Ice Storm of 1998.

Why it happened: This the Largest of Ice storms to hit Canada, and likely the United States as well, was caused by a rather unusual occurrence in the North American jet stream. A mass of cold air had stopped over southern Ontario; this cold air was then bombarded by a mass of moist warm air from the Gulf of Mexico. As the two air masses met the warm air mass rose above the cold air mass, and when the moist air from the warm air mass condensed and fell as rain, it passed through the cold air mass and froze where ever it fell. Normally this would not be a problem but with the record setting conditions that this ice storm brought with it, the Great Ice Storm of 1998 was unlike anything that had been seen before it.


The unique atmospheric requirements for an ice storm

What Was the Impact: There were many impacts to the 1998 ice storm, starting with the obvious, power outages, 4.7 million people without power in Canada and 500 000 without power in the United States. To the less obvious, thousands, if not millions of trees were damaged or killed by this ice storm; the maple industry was particularly hard hit. Whole hectares of sugar maple trees were destroyed, and in many areas the industry would have had to have re-started up from scratch. In Canada, an electrical system which had been decades in the making, was destroyed by this 6 day storm. (The Great Ice Storm of 1998 stated on January 4th 1998 and ended on January 10th 1998) In total 120 000 kilometers of telephone cables and power lines, 30 000 wooden utility poles, and 130 transmission towers were destroyed. As many as 300 power customers in Ontario and 45 000 in Quebec were still without power by the end of the month of January. 45 people lost their lives as a result of this storm, which does not sound like a lot at first but any person lost is too many. In terms of financial cost, in Canada damage caused by the Great Ice Storm of 1998 is estimated to be at $500 million, while the cost in terms of interrupted business is somewhere in the billions. On a happier not the 1998 ice storm has also shown us that there is still some humanity in the world, as people who did still have their power or regained it quite quickly let entire families of strangers into their homes so that they would have somewhere to go. People shared what they had, and families became closer.




The Great Ice storm of 1998 caused an electrical system which took decades to be set up was destroyed in a matter of days.

How did the region recover: It was a very difficult task to repair an electrical system that took decades to set up, in the matter of weeks that it was fixed in. It would not have been possible without the tireless work of so many individuals, starting with the Canadian military. In this, the largest peacetime mobilization of the armed forces in Canadian history, 16 000 people in the Canadian military came out to help clear debris, ferry supplies, and transport people to the emergency shelters which had been set up. Of course, the situation would have been hopeless without the hard work of so many hydro repair people, not just from Ontario and Quebec, but as far away as the Atlantic Provinces, Manitoba, and Several of the American states. These hardworking folk set 10 000 new power poles, and strung 3000 kilometers of power line, in weather conditions which were far from suitable. There were also other individuals and groups working tirelessly to repair the Damage caused by the Great Ice Storm such as the church organizations, helping people who had lost everything, or the fire fighter working round the clock to keep people’s houses from going up in smoke.


The United States called in some of its soldiers for the cleanup effort as well. This group, the 10th Mountain Division’s 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry regiment is clearing branches and fallen tree limbs in the village of Copenhagen New York State.

What is the region doing to predict and prepare for future perils: Since the Great Ice Storm of 1998, the Canadian people have come to realize better their dependence on electricity. Many have also purchased generators, or even built fireplaces for future ice storms. (Or blizzards, or anything that causes power outages really) What the Great Ice Storm of 1998 has really done however is to remind Canadians that we are not quite as invincible as we think, we must prepare for these storms before they hit so that when they do we can hunker down nice and cozy by a pleasant fire with a good book.





Since the Great Ice storm of 1998 many people have installed wood stoves in their homes.

Natural Disaster Project, Geological Perils The Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004

Tsunami: A very large wave which has its origins in earthquakes or other geological disturbances, and can cause much devastation.


Factors that cause this phenomenon to happen: Tsunamis are most generally caused by earthquakes, but they can be caused by numerous other factors ranging from landslides, such as when a minor earthquake on the southern edge of the Grand Banks in November 1929, caused a large section of the Grand Bank to give way in an underwater landslide, creating a tsunami which caused great damage to the southern coast of the island of Newfoundland.  Volcanic eruptions have also created tsunamis, such as when a volcanic eruption that destroyed much of the island of Santorini created a tsunami, (or tsunamis) which devastated the north coast of Crete and many of the Aegean islands in about 1450 BCE and may well have directly influenced the end of the Minoan civilization. Meteorites have also caused tsunamis but it is exceedingly rare for them to do so. As well, the testing of nuclear weapons has been known to create small tsunamis but has not, and is unlikely to; create tsunamis of any great size due to international treaties banning the use of nuclear weapons.


The 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami starts to push inland in Thailand.

Where it happened: the Earthquake that triggered the Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004 started off the coast of Sumatra. It was quite a large quake at a magnitude of 9.3 and when it hit, a rather large area of sea floor, (1200 kilometers) suddenly rose up triggering the Tsunami. In terms of countries hit by this killer wave there were quite a few: the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, (technically part of India, but so hard hit by the tsunami they got a classification of their own) Bangladesh, Burma, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Maldives, the Seychelles, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, and Thailand were hit directly by this giant wave, with tidal fluctuations occurring as far away as the eastern seaboard of North America.


Though the Boxing day Tsunami of 2004 only hit 12 countries in the Indian ocean directly, tidal fluctuations, caused by the severity of the earthquake that triggered the tsunami could be felt as far away as the eastern seaboard of North America.

Why it happened: The Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004 was caused by the Earthquake that preceded it. The severity of this particular quake and the huge area of seafloor which was displaced by it led to the far reaching sever effects that this Tsunami had over a very large portion of the Indian Ocean, and lesser affects felt around the world.

What was the Impact: The first country to be hit by this devastating tsunami was Indonesia, which was right next to where the tsunami began, and felt the worst of its fury. In all, this one tsunami Killed about 250 000 people and destroyed the homes of about 2 million people. It swept untold people and debris out to sea, as well as decimating large areas of coastline. (Especially in Indonesia) As well as destroying livelihoods, (in many areas, even a year after the tsunami occurred, people were still living in makeshift shelters and in many cases still waiting to resume their regular jobs) and prompting countries in the Indian Ocean to be more vigilant when watching for tsunamis.


An example of an area affected by the tsunami before and after the event occurred.

How did the region recover: The recovery process was very different in different areas hit, some simply had to repair the relatively minor damage sustained to their coastlines, while other had to rebuild from the ground up. In areas such as Indonesia and Sri Lanka a fair amount of aid was required to be brought in due to the sheer severity of the situation. Since the events of December 26th 2013 however, the regions affected seem to be recovering quite nicely, at least physically. There is however still a very real long lasting philological trauma that many of the tsunami survivors have had to go through and still go through, that will likely remain with them for the rest of their lives. Their still seems to be some regions which have not cleaned up from the tsunami physically, and one of those places is Tamil Nadu, India, where boats washed inland have still not been cleaned up. 


This is a village that was virtually destroyed by the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami. Before.



This is a photo of what I am convinced is the same village, 2 years later. After. The only recognizable feature from the village as it was 2 years before, being the white building on the left hand side of the picture.

What is the region doing to predict and prepare for future perils: To protect themselves better from future tsunamis, the countries bordering the Indian ocean have set up an early warning system of sorts, a series of experimental tsunami buoys of which there are now 39 throughout the Indian Ocean. (Before the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004 struck there were six) These will help to let people know a tsunami is coming, and hopefully give them enough time to escape to safety.

An example of an experimental tsunami buoy.

The Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004 Video